Parliament approved by an overwhelming majority the changes proposed by the government to the Marriage Act, which replaced references to a mother or father with ‘parent’ and a husband or wife with ‘spouse’.

Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo was the only dissenting voice, voting against the law and ignoring the party whip.

The government had rejected amendments put forward by the PN to include the gender-neutral terminology alongside references to a mother, father, husband or wife. But the PN parliamentary group still voted in favour of the gender-neutral law to fulfil its own electoral pledge.

But even as the new law comes into force, at least one PN leadership contender, Chris Said, has vowed to reintroduce the words ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ in the law if the Nationalist Party is elected to government under his stewardship.